Zzap
1st June 1992Dizzy Down The Rapids
Good old Codies - if they can't rip off their own games, they'll rip off someone else's! Instead of your usual Codemasters arcade adventure or platform opus, what we have here is a 'tribute' to that ageing Tengen coin-op Toobin', and a rather fab and groovy one at that!
Dizzy's in a spot of bother. Hunting for diamonds on a fast-flowing river may be a rewarding pastime, but he might have learned to swim first! Floating down such a treacherous waterway in a barrel isn't my idea of fun, especially when it's full of watersnakes, ducks, cannon-wielding dragons and all manner of flotsam and jetsam conspiring to sink his fragile craft. Luckily, he has a stash of stones with which to protect himself. Bung 'em at the baddies for all you're worth, but don't waste 'em - you've only got a limited supply!
Dizzy Down The Rapids is full of "eggcellent" touches. The baddies are interesting and varied, some taking only one brick on the bonce to kill; others such as the hippo need a more liberal pasting. Also, when you die you get to choose whereabouts on the screen to restart, avoiding the trap of landing you right in the middle of what killed you in the first place! Best of all, that annoying Asteroids-style rotate-and-move control method has been dispensed with in favour of a much more playable system.
As you can see from the screenshots, the graphics are eggstremely good, eggcept for the main sprite which looks like an albino Pac-man having a crap. The sound is more than eggceptable too!
If you've played some of the Speccy-ported Dizzy adventures, you may well have decided enough is un oeuf, and decided that eggs are best left in omelettes. If so, you should make this the eggception - it's a good egg (honest!) and a right good game to boot! (Old Robin Hoggy quote!)